Abstract:

Maintenance of campus security situations in Nigerian universities today has remained a major challenge to higher education administrators for decades. Security threats to our various university campuses are either from internal or external forces as the incessant occurrence of the menace has conspicuously exposed the incompetence of existing security officers in our various universities. However, poor management, cult killings, students’ riots, gang-raping, student-staff impasse, terrorism, kidnapping for ransom, religious crises, student’s invasion from other schools, assassinations, holding lecturers/university staff hostage, stealing and armed robbery among others constitute the challenging insecurity in Nigerian universities. The study examines the various security threats bedeviling the peaceful learning process and smooth administration of universities; assesses the concerted efforts of the university managements and security operatives in combating the menace. The study concludes that, lack of adequate intelligence gathering, incompetence on the part of university security officers, corruption, senility and negligence of duty and lack of strategic security training among others remain the factors hindering the total arrest of the menace in the various university campuses. It also requests the need for security tips from members of staff; continual strategic and tactical training to be conducted, adequate security intelligence gathering by the university security officers, to halt the menace.